Pages

Thursday, September 1, 2011

Guest Post: Sewing and the Apocalypse

Readers, I've been trying to convince Jeff, my better half, to write a guest post here for some time. And now we have one--on the very day his first novel releases! I hope you enjoy it.--Gertie

Hi Sewists!

Your pal Gertie is working awful hard this week. She’s doing a big photo shoot for her upcoming book as well as trying to keep up with teaching, impending travel, and one neurotic husband who's releasing his first novel this week. The woman is a dynamo! I don’t know how she does it all.

Luckily, though, her harried week has brought me--the aforementioned neurotic husband--the opportunity to do a guest post today. Some of you may know me a bit already from Gertie’s mentions, but for those who don’t: Hi! I’m Jeff. I write novels for teens and my very first one, The Eleventh Plague, is being released today by Scholastic.

The book is about the aftermath of a world war that has reduced the population to about a third of what it is now, causing society to completely collapse. No government. No law. No infrastructure. The main characters in the book survive as nomadic scavengers.

There's actually a short sewing scene in the book where the main character, a teenage boy, has to repair his ragged sweatshirt on the fly. Writing that scene got me thinking about our relationship to the things that sustain us, particularly our food and our clothing. For many people (present company excluded) the production of these things was outsourced long ago. Clothes are made in massive assembly line factories somewhere overseas and arrive in our stores ready to wear. Food is prepared largely in restaurant kitchens or in factories where it’s packaged and frozen before being delivered to grocery store shelves.

Now imagine if the infrastructure that exists to produce all of this failed. The clothes stop coming. The restaurants close. The food manufacturers stop production. I think a significant percentage of the population would suddenly be faced with the fact that they don’t know how to make or repair the clothes on their backs or how to grow, hunt, or prepare their own food. Where would we be then?

And I’ll admit, I’m totally a part of this. I’m not a bad cook, but those other things? Left to my own devices, well, I’d probably be kinda screwed. The good news, however, is that folks like you and Gertie are part of a growing DIY movement that is trying to reclaim some of these skills. Don’t get me wrong, I think a lot of our modern conveniences are awesome (I do so love ordering Chinese takeout on my iPhone) but if you make your own food then you know what you’re putting in your and your family’s bodies, and if you make your own clothes you control how they fit, how they look, and how they’re made. More importantly, I think staying connected to your own necessities by doing things like making food or making clothes is a great way to stay just slow down and stay connected to life in general.

What do y’all think? Does sewing and crafting make you feel differently about mass produced goods? Does it make you feel connected to something in life you weren’t connected to before--or at least give you confidence you could survive the zombie apocalypse if necessary?

Ok, I’m off now to go try and make sure Gertie finds time to relax and have a decent meal amid her thousand duties. If you’re curious about The Eleventh Plague you can read the first 4 chapters here. You can also order the book on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Indie Bound.

54 comments:

Well hey there and congratulations! I finally read The Hunger Games just this last week and enjoyed it very much. I will read your book, too. Sewing has made me think about mass-produced clothing and manufactured food - quite a lot actually.I agree with you that it's a very positive thing to feel the capacity to clothe and feed ourselves. The DIY movement seems a healthy swing of the pendulum.Camping helps one appreciate a real roof and HVAC.I am past my camping days, though.

Congratulations on your new book! Our family raised dairy goats for many years and exhibited them at fairs around the Southeast. I was constantly amazed at the types of questions we received - most of the suburban fairgoers seemed to prefer buying their milk at a store in a carton and cringed at the idea that I was actually storing a jar of fresh milk in our cooler for the morning breakfast cereal. They didn't know you could actually drink it without "something" being done to it in between the animal and actually using it.

I love these sci-fi scenarios - I'll read the first four chapters right after I reply.

What a great post - I deeply relate. Everything we have that costs little, costs someone else a lot - a worker in a sweat shop in a 3rd world country, a factory employee that earns barely anything, a small shop owner getting run out of business, the natural resources of the planet...

I know I enjoy these things - A/C, a car, nail polish, fruit, air travel, gadgets, and so much more - even the fabric and sewing supplies I buy are mass produced in a way that will make them affordable to me. But yeah, I try not to buy clothes at all and make my own (I'm pretty much there). I make my bags. I eat out of ceramic bowls I made myself. I offer my friends something handmade as gifts rather than something store-bought. I try to use fabric from my stash rather than go out and buy more fabric. I try to sew something I'm really going to use everyday. And I try not to shop, not to buy, not to grab everything I think I want.

Sewing is a way to slow down and really put an effort in something I use, so I can better appreciate what I have. So I know, that I don't need many things, goods, in order to be happy.

Congratulations, Jeff! I have passed along the link to my husband as he is well planned for the zombie appocolypse. We'll be heading to the interlake region of Manitoba where his relatives still have a farm with his "zombie chopping" camping axe in tow. Kid you not, that's what he calls the axe.

Sewing, preserving, cooking are the skills I offer up when the zombies approach.

Congratulations on your new book. You two make a very handsome couple. You must be very proud of Gertie, I just received my copy of Threads magazine and her article is inspiring. Yes, making my own clothing makes me feel that I am doing my part and that I could survive without the big stores.

I do think about sewing (and cooking and knitting) not only as a way to slow down or be connected, but also just as good things to know. I feel that some (no one here, of course!) see it as anti-feminist or old-fashioned, but if the zombies come, I'm ready!

Being prepared for emergencies of all sizes is incredibly important to my family. As folks living in Vermont and New Jersey know, disaster can strike at any time. Our food supply is particularly vulnerable, but I'm not too worried about our clothing supply. In this country we have tons of stores, homes, and warehouses stocked with more clothing than our populations could possibly use up. Today we get rid of clothes if they get a stain, a rip, or the size is off. If we were in a true emergency, stains would not matter, slight sizing differences would not matter, fashion would not matter. It would take many years of sustained disaster circumstances for our clothing to become problematic.

That does not mean I'm going to give up sewing, I think sewing is empowering and gives me a level of control I otherwise would not experience over the way I present myself, but if a disaster should strike, my sewing skills are only going to become necessary long after my food and medicine skills would have been called into question.

Hi Jeff, this is a great post and I look forward to reading your book. I join many others who thank you for taking care of Gertie for us!I am so glad that this topic of self-reliance is becoming more and more popular. Fortunately I've always been a bit of an insourcer for clothes and home goods but I got my eyes opened about our costly, inefficient and unsafe food production system when I had to switch to unprocessed foods a few years ago. Now I've come as far as growing my own vegetables and buying meat only locally (and preferably where I can see the animals}. One day, maybe vegetarianism, but that's a tough step.It is so cool that you are able to incorporate some of these ideas into your stories - and get published!Congratulations to you!

Congrats on your book!!!! What a dream come true! I am going to get a copy to read and share it with my 10 year old son who loves sci-fi!!!! As far as the DIY and the apocalypse goes, I do feel more prepared in case of disaster and I also feel connected with women of the past by making clothes for myself and my children. I can't grow my own food, I have quite the black thumb, so hopefully in case of the apocalypse, I can barter clothes for food!

This is so unusual and so sweet of you to write a post on your wife's blog!!! Fun.Congratulations on your book. I totally believe that unfortunately we will come to this scenario that your describing in your book.After I discovered DYI I came in touch with my true nature and my averseness (does that word even exist) to consumerism has increased. I'm totally in "slow sewing", "slow stitching", "slow food", "slow everything". The world is going too fast for my taste. I stepped off the fast track!

Congratulations on your book! It sounds right up my alley since I love science fiction and, living in Southern California (where we like to say we have three seasons -- earthquake, flood, and fire), I'm more than a little bit aware of how fragile the tissue of our society and supply lines can be.

I grew up sewing, as the daughter of a mother who sewed, the grandaughter of... for as many generations back as I can imagine, and we've all taken pride in workmanship that was better than we could buy. That said, I've been agitating since my teenage years for more DIY skills in the general public and have taught numerous friends and acquaintances to do simple sewing/quilting/knitting/embroidery at my neighborhood "craft night", at the doctor's office, and even by being a buttinsky at the fabric store when someone without skills seemed to need help that puzzled Joann's staff.

I see the ability to sew on a simple button as more than just a life skill. In a world where fossil fuels are being consumed at an alarming pace, replacing a perfectly functional garment (but for a missing button) with one that has to be shipped from China or somewhere equidistant costs us all. It costs our children.

The solution is so simple. Sometimes I have to explain how to thread a needle. Sometimes I have to explain how to tie a knot. But the basics are there for all to learn -- and passing on the feeling of power that comes from self-sufficiency makes being a buttinsky worth it!

Congratulations Jeff! Will the full version be available as a Nook book? I'd love to check it out but I no longer purchase physical copies due to space taken up by fabric. I'm curious how the cover was designed. Do you tell them what you want it to look like?

@sickofitcindy No, no real input on the cover. We authors don't really get any. Essentially the cover is a call that's made more than anything by sales and marketing. They know best about what sells, way more than me. I'm very happy with it though.

And yes it will be available on nook though I'm not entirely sure when.

Congratulations on the book! I would be hopeless in zombie scary land, I would need to hide....Sewing has definitely made me think more about how things are made. I remember sewing and listening to a Radio 4 programme about commercial production of jeans, and people making a number of pairs per hour!There is a strange disconnect, people say 'wow, you really made that yourself' - then you think, well someone made what you're wearing......and it is not even considered 'skilled' labour. (Now I need to learn how to cook instead of my husband feeding us all....)

Congrats - this looks like something I need to order for me and my oldest child.

I don't consider myself a part of any so-called DIY movement because I've been sewing for so long. Every time I look online or in a store my first thought is, "How can I make that myself?". I was sewing my own clothes back when it was considered really uncool to have home-sewn clothes.

Then again maybe I'm weird, since I grew up canning peaches, making jam and applesauce. I mean, enough jam and applesauce to last an entire year, when the cooking took 2 days to do all the fruit, and the strawberries were ones we picked ourselves. Oh, and my mom dried her own pineapple and other fruits and made her own granola and yogurt. And her own bread without a bread machine. So it's difficult for me to think of those things not being a basic part of life for anyone. I guess I would survive pretty well in a post-apocalyptic world, since I can cook over and build a fire, too. That's a benefit of having been a Girl Scout. :)

My son is a complete geek and when he wants something new usually tries to pitch it as something we could use together like "this $1200 3D printer could make that little bike gadget for you" or "this special LED rope light could really work in your sewing room"...

I'm going to head over and see if your book's available on Nook and then I can tell him "This book is about a boy in the apocalypse learning to sew!" He'll go gaa-gaa!

Being able to make it yourself keeps me from buying a LOT of things because wither the price or the quality makes me think, eh, I could do it better. Of course then I rarely do. Probably just as well since I already have too many clothes. heh k.

Oh yay a new book to read! I'm a HUGE sci-fi fan...actually that's pretty much all I read (and Agatha Christie) because I love the imagined realities and possible futures that sci-fi delves into. And I really like the sound of your book.I know there's nothing worse when you get compared to someone else as an artist BUT - have you read the World Made by Hand books? They also deal with some similar issues with the breakdown of society and everything becoming local again. It's something I think about fairly often and part of the reason I took up sewing. I want to be able to have *some* skills that would provide for me IF the world turned to shit. YES, I'm prepared for the zombie apocalypse!! heheh :-D

A great post Jeff. I was particularly delighted how you intertwined two topics so seemingly apart! Sewing and the Apocalypse, huh?Well, I'll never look at my sewing machine the same way from now on :-)

A really interesting read Jeff, thanks, and weirdly i had just written a similar post on my blog about sustainable living and how rampant consumerism is not healthy or sustainable. I do think those of us with skills like you mentioned have a different outlook somehow; we relish the time it takes to create and that brings us to a level or awareness about how the things around us are made- perhaps or hopefully we begin to reject throwaway culture that is so popular these days. There's a really interesting short film about that subject here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLBE5QAYXp8 (not mine) that i posted on my blog too.

Way to go with your book! I definitely approach mass produced things differently, but I never considered sewing a skill that would help me survive the zombie apocalypse! Thanks for that! I've always said I'd be one of the first ones dead but now I have hope!!

You're definitely right, Jeff. A lot of people take for granted the food and clothes that they consume. I'm happy to be part of the group of people that could 'fend for themselves' should something happen. And it is great to see so many other people on the web who love to sew for their families!

Jeff, so happy for you about the book! My 13yo daughter will be getting a copy for sure, and I have a feeling it will be promptly filched by my husband. I have often joked that I am a "post-apocalyptic hottie"-- I can knit/crochet/spin/weave and sew, I can cook and bake bread, I know how to grow food from seed and make paper. I can frame a house and slaughter a chicken. And I'm fat, so I won't die of starvation anytime soon. I gots it goin' on!LOL So when the apocalyps comes, we're covered over here. You can bring Gertie and we'll pool our skill sets! I know a guy with a winery...we can be tipsy zombie killers.

When I changed my Facebook status to "What skills will you barter in the event of an apocalypse?" I learned that almost none of my friends had a practical skills set that was not dependent on electricity or computers.

I will have to feed us all by baking and cooking, and clothe us all by sewing and mending. Which I don't mind; I was just surprised at the lack of skills that I consider part of self-sufficiency.

I've been thinking about the exact things you've mentioned in this post in the last few months! I think that's why I love sewing so much. Not only do you get a perfectly fitting garment, that looks the way you want it to, but it also makes you feel more independent, more capable of survival (this may sound silly I know, but I do think about stuff like that sometimes). I often feel powerless (how is one person going to do something against the problems caused by the globalization they're so used to?), and sewing makes me feel like I'm at least not fueling the low payed sewing-jobs that produce cheap RTW clothing.And now I'm off to practice cooking haha...

Hey, congrats Jeff, just bought your book on the Kindle, looking forward to reading it later tonight. Agree with what you and others have said. Trying to 'slow down' in my own way, purchasing less, or at re-sale stores. Anyhoo, congrats again!

Great introduction to your book. I like the fact that the book's target is young people because it provides an introduction to reasons to become more independent from our current sources of essential products. It provides some motivation for learning outside of typical school subjects as well. Great job!

I am going to let you know that I'm going to buy your book. It may be that I'm a total fan of Gertie's blog, but it is also because I like the way you think.

I think I actually started my crafting, particularly sewing, because I wanted to be unique in my fashion and style. However, as time went on, I started realizing that I didn't want to spend $30 on a dress that I could make out of a tshirt. So sewing for me became a necessity where I can save money and create my own unique style. Although it is time consuming, the end result is mine and uniquely mine, and that is a feeling that is totally worth it.

Hmmm. Thought provoking. I'm thinking that we're already seeing a resurgence in people going back to doing things from scratch. I guess these days, although we may have lots on offer, it seems as though choosing what is on offer leaves us having to choose between other people's choices. Doing things from scratch,actually gives you more options to achieve what you actually need, rather than what everyone thinks you should want. On a side note, about 10 years ago I was visiting the highlands in Papua New Guinea and found the local shop dedicated a whole aisle to packet mixes!!! What!? Not for the locals, of course, but for the local missionary folk.I guess it takes humility to ask for a lesson on the basics. Or a good granny-type to ram it into you! Or a catastrophe.Oh, and speaking of the end of the world, are we the last people on earth to not have a mobile phone yet?

I have a ton of fabric and have been thinking about what to sew up (while we still have electricity) that would be really useful should we experience the dark ages. Assuming we have water, cloth diapers and feminine pads come to mind. I already make quilts and blankets. Got any other ideas?